Acting on the Global Security Initiative to Realize Middle East Ceasefire
القائم باعمال سفارة الصين بالسودان شو جيان
Written by Mr. XU Jian, Charge d’Affaires of Chinese Embassy in Sudan
Recently，the United States and Israel blatantly launched military strikes against Iran. The spreading and escalating conflict, now affecting multiple countries in the Middle East, poses a grave threat to world peace and development. China is deeply concerned about the rising tensions in the region. The international community share the pressing hope to promote de-escalation and realize an early ceasefire. Against this backdrop, China, upholding the vision of building a community with a shared future for humanity and acting on the Global Security Initiative (GSI), has carried out active diplomatic efforts.
China pushes for a ceasefire and an end to the fighting. China believes that the ongoing conflict raging in the Middle East is a war that should not have happened – it is a war that does no one any good. The pressing priority now is to stop fighting and end the conflict. Since the very first day of the conflict, China has unequivocally called for an immediate stop to the military operations to prevent further cycles of escalation and avoid the spillover and expansion of the conflict. At a press conference on the sidelines of China’s Two Sessions this year, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi responded that to find the right and proper solution to the issues relating to Iran and the Middle East, five fundamental principles must be observed – they are respecting national sovereignty, rejecting the abuse of force, non-interference in internal affairs, promoting political settlement of hotspot issues, and major countries should play a constructive role and use their strengths in goodwill. These principles are the fundamental guidance for China to deal with the issues relating to Iran and the Middle East.
China has carried out active mediation efforts. Over the past few days, Foreign Minister Wang Yi had phone calls respectively with his counterparts from a number of countries such as Oman, Iran, France, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Egypt for in-depth exchanges of views on regional situation. Special Envoy of the Chinese Government on the Middle East Issue Zhai Jun has travelled to multiple countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and Egypt, to carry out shuttle diplomacy on regional situation. China’s diplomatic efforts are only aiming to achieve a ceasefire, return to dialogue and restore peace at an early date.
China has offered timely emergency humanitarian assistance. The continuation and escalation of the conflict in the Middle East serve the interests of no party. The only victims are the people of the region. The UNHCR recently declared the current situation in the Middle East a major humanitarian emergency. The affected regions already host 25 million people as refugees. In this context, China has decided to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to Iran, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq in hope of easing the difficult humanitarian situation and addressing the urgent needs of the people in affected areas. Going forward, China will continue acting in a humanitarian spirit to help the people in affected areas get through the difficult time.
The current severe situation in the Middle East once again highlights the urgency to build a new security architecture in the region for the sake of regional security governance. The Global Security Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping calls for countries to stay committed to the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, to respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, to abiding by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, to taking the legitimate security concerns of all countries seriously, to peacefully resolving differences and disputes between countries through dialogue and consultation, and to maintaining security in both traditional and non-traditional domains. These concepts and principles are China’s solution that fundamentally points out the right way forward for stabilizing the situation in the Middle East and achieving sustained peace and stability there.
As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and a sincere friend of Middle Eastern countries, China will stay committed to urging peace and defending justice and fairness. China will continue to strengthen communication with relevant parties including parties to the conflict, and work with them to implement the Global Security Initiative and restore order to the Middle East, restore tranquility to the people, and restore peace to the world.
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